The ICAC can investigate alleged improper conduct carried out by:
- public officers
- public bodies, that is, organisations involved in public administration, such as NT Government agencies, local government councils and other bodies that receive public resources.
In some circumstances, the ICAC can investigate other people who are not public officers.
Improper conduct that the ICAC can investigate includes:
- corrupt conduct
- misconduct
- unsatisfactory conduct
- anti-democratic conduct.
The ICAC Act empowers the Commissioner to investigate cases of corrupt conduct and anti-democratic conduct and to refer cases of misconduct and unsatisfactory conduct to referral entities to investigate.
There are limitations on functions that allow the ICAC to investigate misconduct and unsatisfactory conduct based on certain circumstances as outlined in section 18 A of the ICAC Act.
For more information about improper conduct, see What is improper conduct?
Public officer
A public officer is defined under the ICAC Act as a:
- minister
- Member of the Legislative Assembly
- judicial officer
- person who holds an office established under an Act who is appointed by the NT Administrator or a minister
- member, officer or employee of a public body, such as the NT Government agencies or local government councils.
Examples of a public officer include:
- people who work in the NT Government
- police officers
- ministerial advisors and electorate officers
- local council elected members
- local council employees.
Public officers also include any person engaged under the Contracts Act 1978 or anyone engaged to perform an official function by or on behalf of a public officer.
This means that owners and employees of organisations that have a contract with, or receive a grant from, the NT Government or local government councils, or deliver a service for them, may be public officers.
You should report suspected improper conduct by any public officer to the ICAC.
Public officers have mandatory reporting obligations under the ICAC Act to report corrupt conduct and anti-democratic conduct.
Under the ICAC Act, public officers do not include:
- the ICAC Inspector
- members of the ICAC Inspector’s staff in relation to performing an official function for the Inspector
- the Acting ICAC appointed to investigate the ICAC, the ICAC's office or a member of the ICAC's staff, in relation to the investigation.
Public body
Public bodies include:
- NT Government agencies
- local government councils
- Northern Territory Police
- courts
- any board, commission, tribunal or other body established under an Act that has judicial or quasi-judicial functions in the performance of its deliberative functions
- any body, whether incorporated or not, established under an Act
- any body whose members, or a majority of whose members, are appointed by the NT Administrator or a minister
- government owned corporations
- nursing homes
- public hospitals
- universities, including Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education.
Public bodies also include any other body, whether incorporated or not, that:
- receives, directly or indirectly, public resources or
- performs a public function on behalf of the NT, a public body or a public officer (whether under contract or otherwise).
Examples include:
- a construction company that has a contract with an NT Government agency to build or fix houses
- a consultancy that has a contract to provide advice to an NT Government agency
- a maintenance company that a local council pays to mow the grass and collect rubbish
- an Aboriginal organisation that is paid to look after a health clinic for the NT Government
- a non-government organisation that has a grant to provide youth services.
You should report suspected improper conduct by any public body to the ICAC.
Public resources
Public resources include money, assets, infrastructure, intellectual property, licences, and human resources of the NT, a public body or public officers.
It also includes any other resources belonging to, or available to, the NT or a public body or public officer, including resources held under trust.
Examples of public resources include:
- money
- buildings
- vehicles and fuel cards
- credit cards
- people
- information
- computer systems.
The ICAC can not investigate:
- the conduct of interstate or federal police
- issues concerning Australian Government agencies and authorities
- issues concerning interstate agencies and authorities
- judicial decisions
- the private sector, if the conduct has no connection to NT public administration.